Bellway Sees Signs Of Housing Recovery

Housebuilder Bellway have reported increases in sales and selling prices in its interim accounts, discouraging opinions that the housing market is slowly recovering.

The company is the latest UK housebuilder to report a leap in profits. Pre-tax profits increased by almost 70%† to £40m from £24m last year. Revenues were £458.6m up from £407.9m last year. The firm is attributing its success to the number of homes sold at a higher than average price and a strong performance from its southern divisions.

Bellway completed the sale of 2,455 homes at an average price of £182,753 up 5.3% from last year where the average price was £168,428. The increase in selling price is due to changes in geographical and product mix, as well as a demand for traditional two storey family housing especially in Greater London boroughs.

Sales of homes in its northern divisions decreased slightly from 1,173 compare to 1,186 from the year before, while its south division completed sales of 1,282 compared to 1,146 homes in 2011. Stronger demand from properties continued in the last two month with reservations from private customers up by 16%, Bellway said it will continue to invest in higher valued developments.

Bellway Chairman, Howard Dawe, commented on the results saying that there remains a significant demand for their homes even with†uncertainties†in the wider economy and the threat of unemployment.

Shares in Bellway rose 1% to† 868p and the company has recently increased its dividend from 3.7p to 6p. Bellway was one of the few housebuilding firms that didn’t cancel the dividend during the recession but investors still believe the figure is too low.